The #7 Toyota broke its jinx to finally win the FIA WEC Le Mans 24 Hours ahead of #8, to also become the first-ever Hypercar winner too.
The #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar takes comfortable victory in 89th running of 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jose-Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway seal victory to finally take win after several years of frustration at Le Mans and become first ever Hypercar race at Le Mans.
They finish 2 laps ahead of the #8 GR010 and 4 laps in front of the third placed #36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480. The #31 Team WRT Oreca takes dramatic last gasp win in LMP2 on La Sarthe debut after sister #41 car retires from the lead on final lap of race!
#51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledogar take LMGTE Pro victory, with the Italian team also taking the double with victory in the LMGTE AM. Reigning FIA WEC LMGTE Am champions AF Corse took their first class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera taking maximum points to open large gap in 2021 FIA WEC points standings.
Hypercar:
- Toyota Gazoo Racing run Toyota GR101 Hybrid Hypercar takes conclusive win to ensure first Le Mans for Jose-Maria Lopez, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi victory.
- #7 car pulls further gap on sister #8 car of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima in closing hours to claim fourth straight Le Mans win for Japanese manufacturer and first of Hypercar era
- Kamui Kobayashi takes over from Conway as halfway point approaches.
- Alpine ELF Matmut entry driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao takes podium at home race in Alpine A480-Gibson.
- French team recovers from two off track incidents to head home Glickenhaus Racing duo #708 Glickenhaus places fourth in Hypercar on debut, delighting owner and visionary founder Jim Glickenhaus.
- Franck Mailleux, Pipo Derani and Olivier Pla drive faultless race to finish on same lap as Alpine.
- #709 Glickenhaus 007 LMH take fifth position as Richard Westbrook, Romain Dumas and Ryan Briscoe ensure all five Hypercars finish competitively in maiden season for all-new class.
LMP2:
- Team WRT looked set for impressive 1-2 on LMP2 debut as Louis Deletraz, Robert Kubica and Ye Yifei in #41 were leading home sister #31 car of Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi.
- But Yifei stops on final lap at Dunlop and Frijns takes over lead in #31 car Frijns is forced to defend from charging #28 JOTA car of Stoffel Vandoorne, Tom Blomqvist and Sean Gelael as Blomqvist makes last hour bid for win.
- Two are separated by just three 0.7s as chequered flag is waved with Blomqvist poised to swoop for win but has to settle for second.
- The #65 Panis Racing Oreca of Will Stevens cross the line to secure the last class podium place 1 lap behind.
- United Autosports complete strong recovery drive as #23 car of Paul di Resta, Alex Lynn and Wayne Boyd fights back from accident on late Saturday evening to take provisional fourth.
- Pro/Am honours fall to Dragonspeed USA trio of Juan Pablo Montoya, Henrik Hedman and Ben Hanley as they come back from major accident in practice.
LMGTE Pro:
- #51 AF Corse Ferrari takes famous win as James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledogar complete dominant victory after leading for vast majority of race
- Calado and Pier Guidi celebrate second victory in three years, while Ledogar takes first class win at Le Mans.
- Corvette Racing offer most sustained challenge to Ferrari as #63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R driven by Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg finishes in second place after periods in lead during off-set strategy periods.
- #92 recovers from chassis destroying qualifying accident and early race excursions to complete LMGTE Pro podium.
- Kevin Estre, Neel Jani and Michael Christensen hold of sister Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Frederic Makowiecki, Richard Leitz and Gimmi Bruni.
- Makowiecki goes off track in penultimate hour and loses bodywork ensuring repairs and loss of time to drop away from #91.
LMGTE AM:
- AF Corse celebrate first LMGTE Am success as #83 AF Corse of Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera to take over title points lead in 2021 FIA WEC standings #33 TF Sport Aston Martin takes second place after race long battle with winning Ferrari.
- Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira and Felipe Fraga recover from accident at first Mulsanne chicane to seal runners-up position.
- Completing podium is the #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE-Evo of Matteo Cressoni, Rino Mastronardi and Ferrari factory driver Callum Ilott.
In the Innovation class the #84 Association SRT41 LMP2 car of Takuma Aoki, Nigel Bailley and Matthieu Lahaye takes richly merited 33rd place overall in specially adapted LMP2 car.
Here’s the full WEC Le Mans 24 Hours results: http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/
[Note: The above is as per press release from FIA with no edits made]
